250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1096) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps, and to support programs at the Marine Corps Heritage Center.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1096, a bill that will mint a series of coins to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

I would like to thank my colleagues, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moulton) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), for their work on this bill and for their service.

The Marines are one of the most storied branches of the United States Armed Forces. On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, passed a resolution stating that ``two Battalions of Marines be raised'' for service as landing forces with the fleet.

This resolution established the Continental Marines and forever marked the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

Now, that may be the official inception of the Marines, but if you ask any corpsman, they will tell you that the Marines were formed in a bar.

According to Marine legend, newly commissioned Captains Samuel Nicholas and Robert Mullan organized the first Marine Corps muster at Tun Tavern, a popular watering hole in Philadelphia.

The two officers are said to have lured potential marines with mugs of beer and a promise of adventures on the high seas. They were looking for ``a few good men,'' the ``Few and the Proud.'' Their recruits later made up the first five companies who served aboard Continental Navy ships.

Shortly after their beginning, the marines became known for their unconventional and fierce combat.

The first amphibious assault in Marine Corps history came on March 3, 1776, when a force under Captain Nicholas stormed the beaches of the British-held island of New Providence in the Bahamas. These 220 marines captured the town and successfully seized several brass canons and mortars that were directly shipped to George Washington's Continental Army.

The Marines served in every American war of the 18th and 19th centuries, but their role as naval troops was limited until June of 1918.

In 1918, under General James Harbord, marines clashed with German forces positioned in a French hunting preserve known as Belleau Wood.

Ignoring calls to withdraw, one captain famously said, ``Retreat? Hell, we just got here.'' The marines held their ground against a German assault and later spearheaded an Allied counterattack on June 6, earning their nickname of ``Devil Dogs.''

The Marines have a history that is far too expansive for a floor speech alone. However, every historical battle the Marines took part in left a lasting impact.

The ``leathernecks'' of Derna, the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, and the Montford Point marines all paved the way for generations of marines to come, including the 15 corpsmen in the 118th Congress.

In August of 2021, marines were among the last U.S. forces on the battleground in Afghanistan, going above and beyond the call of duty to defend Afghan and American civilians alike who were fleeing the Taliban's advance.

Eleven of the 13 courageous and honorable servicemembers killed in the terrorist attack on the Kabul airport were members of the United States Marine Corps. These fearless marines lived and embodied their motto, ``Semper Fidelis,'' or ``Always Faithful,'' a motto I am sure will be the centerpiece of the commemorative coin series.

I again thank my Congressional colleagues who answered the call to service in the Marine Corps, and especially those marines back home in Missouri's Second Congressional District. It is your warrior spirit that we are honoring here today.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), one of the authors of this coin legislation for the U.S. Marine Corps and a great friend, colleague, and patriot.

Madam Speaker, as a proud Army mom whose son is a graduate of West Point, I insist that the lieutenant general take my son, Raymond, the good captain, to the mint also.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am prepared to close.

Madam Speaker, I thank my congressional colleagues for their work on this bill, Captain Seth Moulton and General Jack Bergman. Their steadfast commitment and determination to commemorate the Marine Corps truly shows once a marine, always a marine.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1096, a bill authorizing the U.S. Treasury to mint commemorative coins in honor of the Marine Corps' 250th Anniversary in 2025 and to support programs at the Marine Corps Heritage Center.

The 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act will allow Americans to continue their substantial contributions toward the preservation of the Marine Corps history without any costs to the taxpayers.

November 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Navy Marine Corps' founding at Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, on November 10, 1775.

Since its founding, the Marine Corps has gone on to safeguard our freedom in every climate and region, and in almost every war our nation has fought.

As this House may fervently remember, the coin minted in 2005 for the 230th anniversary of the Marine Corps turned out to be one of the most popular in U.S. Mint history.

The revenue from that coin supported the funding of the construction of the National Museum of the Marine Corps--an award-winning cultural institution which continues to welcome visitors from around the world.

No reason to doubt that a coin marking the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps will be just as popular.

Revenue from the 250th Anniversary coin will support Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's historical and cultural programs that preserve, showcase, and educate the public on Marine Corps, history, traditions, and culture and support to the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

H.R. 1096 will also help to take the history, tradition, culture, and values of the Marine Corps beyond the museum's walls to Americans across the country.

Today's Marine Corps is an integrated air-ground team, capable of rapidly deploying to any conflict or crisis location in the world.

The men and women of the Marine Corps, Always Faithful, remain our nation's finest examples of Honor, Courage, and Commitment for nearly 250 years.

This legislation is an opportunity for Congress to help Americans honor the Marine Corps legacy of bravery and selfless service on a national scale, in a way that won't cost taxpayers a single cent.

I am honored to join with a bipartisan group of Marine veterans, and other veterans of the armed forces serving in Congress, in supporting a legislation that directs the Treasury Department to issue more than one million coins in 2025 for the commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I also thank Representative Sherman for the articulate history of the Marine Corps and also the articulate present of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and the museum.

We don't get to where we are going in life without looking at history and looking at the commitment of others over time to ensure that those times when we had to use American force to preserve our freedoms and the freedoms of others that the Marines were and are the force in readiness. It is called the 911 force, ready to fight tonight. That is who we are. That is our ethos, and we will always remain that.

This coin bill is just the tip of the iceberg for the next generations as they hold that coin to understand what it means for the United States to have the Marine Corps, but also what it means to a young man or woman to become a marine.

By the way, marines are not afraid of work. In fact, we kind of pride ourselves on the fact that we can get 25 hours out of every 24-hour day. That is just the way we are.

Getting a coin bill done takes a lot of work. Unlike more substantive policy bills, which require countless hours of research, meetings, and hearings, a coin bill requires two-thirds of all the Members of the House to cosponsor the legislation. By the way, two-thirds of the House is a significant number of people--290, to be exact.

To highlight how high of a bar that is, since I arrived in Congress in 2017, the House has seen more than 36,000 bills introduced. Of those, just 0.72 percent of the bills have received 290-plus cosponsors. We are in that top 1 percent, with the number of Members of the House who got behind this bill. That is a big deal.

This was a labor of love on my part and, I am sure, on Mr. Moulton's part. I enjoyed the literally hundreds of conversations I had with fellow Members here on the floor to hit that 290 mark, to talk about the Marine Corps and the huge benefits and proceeds of this bill, which costs the taxpayer nothing but will provide revenue to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

In an attempt to educate some of my colleagues on the importance of this bill, if they didn't understand the Marine Corps, I said: Just remember, this bill is going to commemorate 250 years of tradition of the Marine Corps unmarred by progress. They looked and said: Are you serious? I said: Well, think about it. I just want your signature.

The bottom line is, when they stopped laughing, they saw how serious we were as marines. We are all serious, but we laugh. Yes, we were founded in a bar in Tun Tavern in Philadelphia. Yes, there were some recruiters there probably making some outlandish promises, but on November 10, every marine everywhere in the world does celebrate that day in Tun Tavern.

The heritage center is located very close to D.C. It is in Triangle, Virginia. It exists to preserve and promulgate the history, tradition, and culture of the Marine Corps and to educate all Americans and all who visit it on the virtues of what the Marine Corps stands for. As my colleague said, ``Semper Fidelis'' is our motto. We believe it. We live it.

After we pass this bill and it is signed into law, the next best thing happens: The U.S. Mint will work with the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation on the coin's design. Once the design has been approved, the coin celebrating the illustrious 250 years of history of the Marine Corps will be minted at the only facility where the United States produces precious metals and commemorative coins.

There is a little irony here. It will be produced at the West Point Mint aboard the campus of the United States Military Academy, the preeminent institution for educating our next generation of Army leaders.

By the way, one of my grandsons is in his second year at West Point. I told him he gets a free tour of the mint, and I will buy him a coin.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, colleague, and fellow marine, Seth Moulton, for starting the ball rolling here and for helping to get this bill over the finish line, and Chair McHenry for his kind words in the process.

Madam Speaker, again, I thank all my colleagues here in the House, all the folks in the Senate who have made this coin possible because it is the right thing to do for the country to show the young men and women who will someday decide to become marines that it is worth it. I urge all Members to support H.R. 1096.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce H.R. 1096, a bill to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

This is a particular honor for me as a Marine Corps veteran myself. Serving as an infantry officer in the Iraq war, I was proud to lead some of the best Americans I have ever met--brave, selfless, honorable heroes who could have let others go in their place.

Indeed, marines are on watch tonight, standing on the ramparts of freedom around the globe so that we all can sleep softly in our beds at home.

The first time I remember meeting a marine was on my under-10 soccer field in my hometown of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Marblehead has the distinction of being the birthplace of Marine Corps Aviation because it was back in 1912 that Lieutenant Alfred Cunningham took his first solo flight out of Marblehead and became the first marine aviator.

A marine landed a Cobra helicopter on our soccer field, and I had never seen something like this before. I remember walking around this remarkable machine in awe. Then, I came up to the Marine Corps major who was the pilot, and I looked up at him and said: Wow, you are lucky to get to fly this every day. That Marine Corps major looked down at me and said: I am not lucky, kid. I am good.

Indeed, marines know that nobody cares if you are lucky or not. Marines make their own luck and have throughout history, being the first to fight in every clime and place, in battles that defined our Nation for two-and-a-half centuries: Belleau Wood in World War I, where the marines earned our reputation as Devil Dogs; the beaches of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima in World War II; the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean war; the grueling jungles of Vietnam; and, of course, the Gulf wars, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

I will never forget the bravery of the young marines that I witnessed at Abbey Gate during the final days of the Afghanistan withdrawal. After 13 American heroes lost their lives, what happened next is the definition of what it means to be a marine: Another platoon of marines went right back out to continue the mission, saving hundreds more of our Afghan allies.

Yet, the thing about the Marines is that we don't dwell on our history. We charge forward. Under the leadership of now-retired General Berger, the 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps, the force is undertaking the most aggressive modernization plan of any service in the last 50 years.

Force Design 2030 addresses everything from personnel to warships. It shifts resources from armor, artillery, and manned aircraft to invest in longer range missiles and unmanned aerial systems, better sensors and surveillance on the battlefield, and developing and retaining new cyber forces.

If we are to deter a war with China--and we must deter a war with China--

this type of forward-thinking is essential across all the services, and once again, the Marine Corps is setting the example and leading the way.

The Marine Corps is, therefore, at an inflection point, so it is particularly fitting that we have this opportunity to honor the indomitable spirit of the corps while also looking forward to its future.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my esteemed colleagues to support this bill and to recognize the valor, bravery, and sacrifice of ``The Few, The Proud, The Marines.''

Madam Speaker, I conclude with the final verse of ``The Marines' Hymn''

If the Army and the Navy

Ever look on Heaven's scenes;

They will find the streets are guarded

By United States Marines.

Semper Fidelis.

Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared and submitted as a letter by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information assists the Senate Budget Committee in determining if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation.

CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through April 15, 2024. Between CBO's last report on December 13, 2023, and April 15, 2024, Congress passed eight pieces of legislation with effects on direct spending or revenue. These include two appropriations bills passed in March, P.L. 118-42 and P.L. 118-47, that completed the fiscal year 2024 appropriations cycle in line with the bipartisan agreement enacted last summer.

CBO's report included three tables, tables 1, 2, and 3. Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are within allowable amounts for budget authority and outlays. The allowable levels include an adjustment for the Senate-passed national security supplemental, P.L. 118-50, which had not yet

been enacted into law when the table was prepared. These tables also show that revenue is below the allowable amount, due to the rescissions of IRS mandatory funding in the last appropriation bill, P.L. 118-47, which reduces revenue and increases the deficit.

Table 3 shows the Senate's Pay-As-You-Go scorecard, which reflects $36.4 billion of net deficit increase, entirely due to IRS funding rescissions.

The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared three addendum tables to supplement CBO's report, tables A, B, and C.

Table A compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 11 of the 16 authorizing committees are compliant with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending.

Table B updates CBO's table 1, the Senate current level report for spending and revenues, to reflect the enactment of P.L. 118-50, the national security supplemental, which was passed by the House and Senate and was signed into law by the President after CBO prepared its report.

Table C updates CBO's table 3, updating the Senate Pay-As-You-Go scorecard to reflect six bills that have passed by the House and Senate since the release of CBO's report, five of which have been signed into law by the President.

I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri for reprising for us the proud history of the United States Marines, and I join her in support of H.R. 1096, the 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act, sponsored by Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts.

I want to thank Representative Moulton, first, for his service in the United States Marines and, second, for offering H.R. 1096. I also want to mention Senator Blumenthal for leading the Senate version of this bill.

This important legislation would authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mint a series of commemorative coins honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps in 2025.

These coins will be sold to collectors at a profit. The sale of these coins will then support programs for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, which funds programs for the National Museum of the Marine Corps. The museum has been open since 2006, allowing the public to honor the Marine Corps and learn about its important work, as well as allowing for the storage of artifacts and research. The foundation also supports educational programming and cultural events.

Representative Moulton, as a proud marine, has been a tireless advocate in advancing this legislation to commemorate this important anniversary.

The Marine Corps has protected the United States for two-and-a-half centuries and deserves the highest level of

honor, including the minting of these commemorative coins. I am so appreciative of their dedication to this important issue and am pleased to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in that support, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moulton), the sponsor of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

H.R. 1096 will commemorate the important 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States Marine Corps.

I am pleased that my colleague, Representative Moulton, chose to champion this issue so that we can all honor the work of the Marine Corps in protecting our freedom and our liberty over the past two-and- a-half centuries.

Madam Speaker, again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.